Government must continue with policy of keeping edible oil’s duty high, says expert

Atul Chaturvedi, President of Solvent Extractors' Association of India, on Tuesday hailed the government for refraining from bringing down the duties in spite of edible oil prices going through the roof.

Speaking in an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said, “I would suggest that the government continues with the same policy of keeping the edible oil’s duty high because that would ensure that the oilseed farmer is sufficient enthused to keep on producing oilseeds.”

On export front, Chaturvedi said, “India has been lucky in the sense that we had a reasonable soya crop this year, in excess of about 10 million. However, domestically are facing problem in terms of bird flu, which has curtailed demand, but internationally the demand for meal is very strong and I would not be surprise if this year meal export rebound big time and achieve the same old figure of 2 million tonne. The current pace of export and the level of demand is very encouraging.”